Search gives you one place to discover accessible communities, people, conversations, and shared work across Visual Space. Enter a phrase once, then explore matching spaces, posts and articles, goals, events, Docs, messages, or profiles without first guessing which module owns them.
One Search Home Across Visual Space
Search is built for discovery across different kinds of work. It is broader than a filter inside an article list, document library, conversation, or other module: an in-module filter narrows the view you already have, while Search can find a different object and take you to the place where it belongs.
The main searchable families are:
Choose All when you want mixed results from several families. Search uses a presentation suited to each kind of match rather than flattening everything into identical text rows. This makes it easier to tell a person from a space, recognize the status of a goal, notice when an event takes place, or scan matching images.
Global Search is also the home for space discovery. You can look for a community alongside the content and people that help explain what it is about, then open the space from its result.
Search Globally Or Stay In One Space
Scope controls where Visual Space looks. Global Search reaches across the content available to you, which is useful when you remember a name or phrase but not its community. A space-scoped search stays within one space, helping you avoid similarly named work elsewhere.
When you open Search from a space, it starts with that space as the active scope. The space identity appears inside the search field so the boundary is visible before you type. Clear that scope to broaden the same search globally; when Search still has a current space to return to, you can select the Global scope bubble to narrow back to it.
Spaces themselves appear only in global results. Inside a space scope, the Spaces filter and space result rows are omitted because the current community is already known. For a deeper explanation of visibility and scope changes, see Search Scope And Access.
From A Match To Its Working Context
A useful result does more than confirm that a phrase exists. Its preview identifies the surrounding owner when that context is available, such as an author, space, date, workflow state, conversation sender, or file name. The result count and mixed layouts help you decide which direction is promising before you open anything.
A type-specific result gives enough owner, schedule, preview, and attendance context to decide whether it is worth opening.
Opening a result takes you to the surface that owns it:
This owner-aware navigation keeps Search focused on finding. Reading, editing, discussing, or managing the result continues in the feature designed for that work.
Search updates shortly after your typing settles, so you can refine a phrase without repeatedly submitting it. If more matches are available than fit in the first group, additional results load progressively as you continue, with Show more available when another page remains. Detailed result controls are covered in Results And Filters.
Access Stays With The Content
Search does not grant access to anything it finds. The permissions of the original space, area, document, or conversation still apply, whether your scope is global or limited to one space.
Private space content appears only when you belong to the space and can read the relevant area. Shared-message matches follow the same space and area access. Direct Message matches are limited to current participants and do not appear in a space-scoped search. Result totals are calculated without revealing matches you cannot access.
This means two people can use the same phrase and see different results. It can also explain why a remembered item is absent after your membership, area access, or conversation participation changes. Search Scope And Access explains these boundaries in more detail.
Keep Your Place While Exploring
Search preserves the active query, scope, filters, loaded results, and loaded pages while you open a match and then return. You can inspect an article or conversation without rebuilding the same search from the beginning.
Opened results receive a subtle seen style during the preserved session. This is a scanning aid, not a read receipt or a change to the content itself. It helps separate the matches you have already checked from those still worth opening.
Search also gives clear feedback when it is waiting, has no matches, or cannot complete a request. If nothing appears, try a broader phrase, review the active scope, or remove a narrow content filter before assuming the content is unavailable.
Choose The Next Guide
Common Questions
Is Search the same as a filter inside another module?
No. Search is a discovery surface that can find several kinds of content and open each result in its owning context. A module filter usually narrows items already shown in that module.
Why can another person find something that I cannot?
Search respects each person's current memberships and access. The other person may belong to a different space, have permission for a private area, or participate in a Direct Message that you cannot read.
Why do spaces disappear when I search within a space?
The current space is already the active boundary, so space discovery is hidden there. Clear the space scope and search globally when you want to find communities.
Does opening a result erase my search?
No. When you return during the preserved search session, your query, scope, filters, loaded pages, and results remain available, and opened matches are visually distinguished.
Why are some files shown as images instead of regular rows?
Search gives visual media a layout that is easier to scan. Mixed results can include a compact media preview, while a Docs-focused search can show matching files directly in a media grid.
What should I try when there are no results?
Check whether you are searching globally or inside one space, broaden the phrase, and review the selected content family. Search can only return content that matches the query and remains accessible to you.